No Running-Oh

Last night was a special treat. This turned out to be an unpredictable, unexpected event that really was such a special moment of my time here in Liberia. I had planned on just spending the evening at home. I have been, as my roommates call it, turtle-ing this past weekend. Thursday was Liberian Independence Day, Friday was declared a day off from the office, and then of course we had the weekend. I have been working for almost two months straight and I have found solace over these past three days by retreating to my room and just reading, listening to music, sleeping, watching the West Wing and spending time relaxing. So, of course, my plan for last evening was to do the same.

As the day progressed though it turned out that a few friends were going to grab food for supper. I jumped on board feeling like perhaps I needed to be a tad bit more social than I had been. Randomly, someone suggested that we head down to the Bamboo Restaurant in the heart of the city. There is nothing particularly interesting about this place; except for it has a third level location so the breeze comes through nicely. We found our seats towards the back of the restaurant as the typical Saturday night Reggae band was about to start and the sound can sometimes be a bit much.

We ordered our pizzas and got down to talking about important issues, like whether our friend Clint’s family really lives in a teepee. There was plenty of good discussion amongst the Brit/South African, Lebanese, American and Canadians when all the sudden there was a rumble, and we heard sounds off in the not so distant that resembled that of bombs. Chantelle looked at me with this look of, “oh goodness, what is happening”, all before we could notice that the full moon night sky was filling with brilliant colours.

What followed was ½ hour of the best fireworks display (thank you Chinese government) that I have seen. It was not because there was anything more remarkable in the display (other than one really cool firework that exploded to look like the continent of Africa), but was made it so memorable was the significance behind the event. To me it signified and demonstrated that Liberia is moving towards “normalcy” (I know that’s not the right word, but it’s all that comes to my mind). What I mean is that there are increasing signs of stability. This night signified one of those signs.

Just as the fireworks were going off in the night sky, the local police force was driving up and down the streets and on loudspeakers they were calming people’s questions/fears(?) about what was happening. “No Running-oh! Dis one dhere, dat one fireworks-oh!” People stopped, stared, children were dancing in the streets, and there was cheering and rejoicing and awe at this new chapter in Liberian life. No longer did the sounds that signify destruction and death have to mean such terrible things.

I can’t describe the night adequately, other than to say that during the whole thing each of was there staring into the sky and looking at each other in disbelief that we were privileged enough to witness this event. More importantly, I think we all had the feeling that we had witnessed something far greater than just a fireworks display.